


ZERO

by Quarkie



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Growing Up, complex personality, minor crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 10:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11781081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quarkie/pseuds/Quarkie
Summary: Reiji would willingly choose to put behind the sliver traces of childhood behind him. All to become the adult to defeat the man named Akaba Leo.





	ZERO

**Author's Note:**

> What inspired me to write this was that Reiji is my favourite rival in the Yugioh series. He's personality is rather complex, and reminds me a lot of one of my favourite characters in the first game for Zero Escape, Zero. Interesting coincidence that Reiji's name also contains the number "Zero". 
> 
> ioncollider.tumblr.com is my main art blog. 
> 
> Due to the nature of the Zero Escape games there are minor spoilers, but they've been left out of context as much as possible as this was meant to be written without assuming that the reader knows about the game. I've inserted footnotes at the bottom.

The room was dimly lit by the streetlights from Minami city. The walls in the LSD tower was deadly quiet save for Reiji’s hand tapping on the mouse. 

Three monitors, side by side on his desk, showing the documents from Akaba Leo’s laboratory. He leaned back, taking his glasses off while pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation.

That machine… that had transported him to the fusion dimension… there was no proper written document for it. Other than a few notes and journal entries, he wasn’t sure how easy it was the salvage what he had.

He should have tried duplicating another of the same device first.

As he had shut his eyes, it was only then that his eyelids were feeling slightly heavy. Reiji was far from sleepy though, as the thoughts of a few hours prior had ran through his mind. 

_XYZ dimension…_

_Synchro dimension…_  

His thoughts about Akaba Leo’s destructive plan was interrupted when there was a notification from his duel disk. 

“Hi Reiji, sorry, you had called earlier?” Yushou’s voice rang through the room as the boy leaned forward to face the screen. Perhaps he was looking a bit too serious, because father continued on. “Did something happen?”

“Yes,” he replied in a curt tone. “I’d like to meet with you, urgently, to discuss about Akaba Leo..”

“…? You’re not referring to him as your father?” Yushou’s eyebrows were raised before he remembered about the boy’s request. Did that mean his son had found his missing partner? “Yes sure… would you prefer somewhere where no one can eavesdrop?”

Within the next few minutes, one of the old labs for Solid Vision was chosen as a meeting location, and the phone call had ended. At this, Reiji stood up as he put on his glasses again.

Next to the keyboard, there was a mess of papers and disks. Half of them were pulled from the downstairs lab right after he got sent back forcibly from the Fusion dimension. Hastily, he started piling them into a pile. While doing so, he accidentally knocked into a small gaming disk. 

_**Zero Escape**_. 

It was one of the few games that he had played more than once, that he knew the entire complex story, and the details for all the puzzles. The face of the hooded figure with the nuclear gas mask stared back at him. **[1]**

This was the very figure of Zero, the mastermind, and villain in the Zero Escape games.

They were one of Reiji’s favourite characters in the series. Zero was intelligent, seemingly cruel and manipulative. They placed bombs in their kidnapped victims’ bodies, and they had carefully planned an entire game of puzzles for the victims to solve. If they wanted to live, that is.

The mastermind’s motives were complex, Reiji remember when he had reached the final conclusion of the game for the first time. Their very ideals for what is good and wrong is different from others. It didn’t matter if one was friend or foe, they did not hesitate in doing “necessary evils” for the sake of saving 6 billion people.

_But the end justifies the means_ , Reiji thought to himself as he closed the drawer. Just before he left his room, he took out a red scarf and wrapped it around himself. Since it was new, the length was perfect.

His thoughts distracted back to Zero the mastermind again, he almost let out a bitter laugh. A person finding out the world was in danger, to be attacked by another dimension. It was almost the start of a heroic story.

If he were the main character for any story, he’d have to be like Zero, the worst hero. **[2]**

“Reiji-san?” **[3]** A familiar voice called from a few rooms down, and Reiji walked a bit faster to see his mother standing by her room door..

She gave a rare smile, that he couldn’t remember when he had last seen. “I knew the scarf would fit you.”

“Yes, thank you for that.” he said. She seemed to be in be in a better mood compared to earlier this morning, but he could see clearly the tired eye shadows. “Have you eaten yet?”

It turned out she hadn’t. Reiji wasn’t even surprised that in the middle of her fits, she had forgotten the time. Akaba Leo hadn’t even a sliver of care when he mentioned about her, this was the same man that Yushou was referring to as his “father”.

“I have a meeting to go to, but it won’t be quick,” he said looking up at the woman in the eye, showing. “After that, shall we eat together, mother? I have things to talk over with you.”

She was delighted as she bade him goodbye with a wave. As he walked away, there was a short moment where his face twisted into agonizing frustration. If only she knew, he wasn’t going to be able to listen to her idle chat tonight.

The ride in the elevator was short, and soon he had reached the front entrance. The reception desk was empty at this time. It was long over business hours, and there were hardly any teenagers on the street when he exited the LSD tower.

A wave of cold wind rushed at him. Reiji tugged the scarf a little tighter and walked towards the other side of the road, just like the other adults here.

**Author's Note:**

> [1] I believe Reiji is very similar to Zero in that they have a Machiavellian personality. I think the most relevant example of Reiji being like this was when he “simply allowed” the Minami Championship duelists to be carded, to prioritize the safety of the local citizens. 
> 
> [2] The worst kind of main character was actually something the developers had thought for the original Zero in the first game.  
> Maybe in some AU Reiji is actually the main character instead of Yuya. Because unlike the previous Yugioh series, Arc-v was the first series where there rival character doesn’t have a dragon as an ace-monster. It went to the main character Yuya instead. 
> 
> [3] I decided to leave the honorifics there, because it really felt uncommon for a mother to refer to her son so formally. I could see in the anime how she had trusted his judgement. Reiji’s like the current man of the family I suppose, with Leo gone. 
> 
> [4] I guess I was trying to hint that Reiji is forcing himself to live up to the standards and expectations as an adult, because he can’t be some naive kid if he’s gotta outsmart Akaba Leo.


End file.
